Sharia Strategy: Rule of Law Replacing the State

Feb. 4, 2014

Media Outlet: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Young and entrepreneurial, the Nusra Front is distinguishing itself among jihadis in pushing both for a coalitionist approach to the Syrian power vacuum and for a deceptive gradualism in enforcing strict Islamic legal, or sharia, norms over time—thereby also building a postconflict template for Syria.